Dr.
Prabhjot Singh, a professor at Columbia University, was beaten by
a group of young men in Harlem who shouted "Osama" and
"terrorist," Singh said while speaking at Columbia Monday
morning.DNAinfo/Ben
Fractenberg

WEST HARLEM — A Columbia University professor who penned
a New York Times piece last
year on hate crimes against American Sikhs was viciously attacked
by an epithet-spewing mob on bicycles Saturday night, police
said.

Prabhjot Singh, 31, had just dropped off his wife and 1 year old
child at their Harlem apartment and was walking with a friend on
110th Street near Lenox Avenue around 8:15 p.m. when a group of
young men on bikes approached him, he says. The group apparently
believed he was Muslim, and began to attack him, he said.

"I was passing a group of young men...and I heard 'get him,'
'Osama;' I heard 'terrorist,'" Singh said during a Monday morning
press conference at Columbia, "And then I felt somebody grab my
beard while on a bike, [and] hit my chin."

Singh, who wears a full beard and turban in accordance with his
Sikh religious beliefs, was thrown to the ground, he said.

Three bystanders then intervened and were able to stop the
attack, Singh said.

"I think that the bystanders...had a critical role to play," said
Singh. "I couldn't possibly, wouldn't guess what would have
happened, but I certainly felt some degree of peace that I may
[have been] unconscious within seconds and I wasn't. I'm sure
they had role to play in that."

He added that one of the people who came to his rescue was an
elderly man who told the group to "get lost."

Singh, an assistant professor at the university’s School of
International and Public Affairs, underwent surgery at Mt. Sinai
Hospital for a broken jaw, which was then wired by an oral
surgeon, he said.

He was also treated for displaced teeth and severe bruising and
swelling of the body, according to the Sikh American Legal
Defense and Education Fund.

The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the assault,
police said. No arrests have been made.